On the upside, the massive audience — a 50 percent share of TVs in use, according to the network — was the highest-rated TV program since last year’s Super Bowl.

Those competing facts — that NFL ratings continue to erode but that the league still outdraws, by far, the Academy Awards (an 18.4 rating), Game 7 of the World Series (15.8), the college football championship game (14.2) and the NBA Finals (13.5) — make for a puzzling quandary for football boss Roger Goodell.